For the second time in three years, Joseph O’Brien is the Derby-winning jockey and yet we are still waiting for the formation of his fan club. It is starting to seem like one of the Turf’s greatest injustices, this lack of recognition for a man who has now won the greatest Classic as many times as Ryan Moore, twice as many as Frankie Dettori.

Those famed rivals have had many more bites at the cherry than he has done. This was his fourth ride in the race and fourth has also been his worst finishing position. He has certainly been given some talented mounts, but he was on a 20-1 shot on his first visit here and was beaten less than two lengths.

His successes have come aboard Camelot and Australia, hot favourites both, and on both occasions the advance word among the betting fraternity was that the inexperienced jockey might be the biggest obstacle to success. Yet O’Brien has delivered with nary a difficult moment along the way. Any high-rolling gambler who staked more than he should have done on Saturday’s winner can be grateful to the rider for a success so smooth that there was no real cause for concern at any stage.

“I was cantering the whole race,” he said, moments after dismounting. Asked about the wide course he charted that took him around Tattenham Corner on the edge of the field, O’Brien said: “I just wanted him to get a nice, even run through the race. I was on the best horse, so I didn’t want to make things too complicated.”

The pair could be spotted immediately after the turn for home, cruising insouciantly on the heels of the leaders, as if winning the Derby was no more of a challenge than sneaking up behind an elderly relative. The race was over when they eased past Kingston Hill; nothing was finishing strongly from behind, though the runner-up battled on dourly.

The jockey’s father, Aidan, trainer of Australia, was lobbed a question seeking a mawkish response, inviting him to say how wonderful it was to win such a big race with a family member in the saddle. Such occasions are by no means uncommon in racing, which tends to be a family affair, but O’Brien Sr was unwilling to go along the expected path, his response suggesting that modesty is a value he is determined to inculcate in his son.

“So many people, all the way along the line, put so much into it every day, day in, day out, for it to happen,” the trainer said. “There’s so many variables, there’s so many twists and turns along the way, I’m always surprised when it ever happens, to tell you the truth. We’re just so lucky.”

Joseph is unlikely to be taken home and told to mow the lawn, as Lester Piggott was by his parents after his first Derby victory. But he will be back in action at The Curragh on Sunday and any permitted celebrations will surely have been muted.

He did not go entirely without praise. John Magnier is the big brain behind the Coolmore bloodstock operation that has owned the last four Derby winners and therefore one of the most important figures in the life of the O’Brien family. A reserved man of carefully chosen words, he stood in the winner’s enclosure here and said of Joseph: “He’s older than his years, isn’t he? He’s calm. He understands horses.”

Having recently turned 21, O’Brien Jr has now ridden the winners of 22 Group One races. It would be an enviable haul for an entire career, but he could have another two decades in action. No one expects that, partly because he is 5ft 11in tall and the general impression is that he will be too heavy for Flat racing in the not-too-distant future.

He was born in May 1993, a fortnight before his father trained his first winner. “From the time he’s been able to walk, he’s been in the middle of it,” O’Brien Sr once said. “He’s heard all discussions, he’s seen it all, he’s been in the middle of all the disappointments, the good days and the ordinary days. From the time he’s been a baby, he’s been involved.”

There seems very little chance that he will willingly take a step back while there are horses like Australia to ride.